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+--- Thread: OPEN ACHILLES COME DOWN ꕥ confrontation?? (/showthread.php?tid=18179)
ACHILLES COME DOWN ꕥ confrontation?? - yvonne - 06-15-2024
TW: Talk of murder, bad/abusive parenting in a way //
It had been too many weeks since the young lynx had stepped foot upon her home territory. At her flanks walked her siblings, each probably having their own revelation of how long it had been. Breath misting around her whiskers as Yvonne Rosencrantz slowed to a stop upon the welcome sight of Fort Crom's shadow laying across the land before her. Heart beating in her chest with a sense of excitement that she hadn't felt in at least a week. They were finally home, and she could only hope that the circumstances of the Estate had improved.
The imposing shadow of the mountains that lay behind The Horde's territory cast such a sense of pride in her, that she couldn't help but hopefully smile and turn back over her shoulder to her siblings, "We're almost there." Lifting her head up high as the wind whistled past the small grouping of the Rosencrantz children, "We've been gone for a while, things ought to have calmed down, yeah?" The girl didn't know who she was talking to, or if it was to soothe the worry in her own heart. The children had left the Rosencrantz Estate and The Horde on the evening of a bloodbath that had shocked many of the group's members and followers. She could still recall the harsh stares of the noble class upon her fur, judging her for all she was worth, over choosing to protect her siblings. Shivering now as if to shake off the memories of that blood-filled night, Yvonne hunched her shoulders and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she shivered from the chill of the wind. "Hey. Let's go home." There was nothing that could have gone wrong, was there?
Little did she know as she started down the hill, just how much had changed. There was no way for the children to know of the calamity they were returning home to, the accusations they would be returning to face. The path through the city of Fort Crom was filled with many other bodies that quickly cleared out of the way of the vampiric children and their group of cohorts. Turning her head to observe the oddity of the looks on the citizens' faces, feeling as if she was a strange animal put on display and performing tricks for the amusement of the crowd. Swallowing uneasily as she stumbled, gasps and whispers already having been rocketing through the citizens at their arrival to the tiered city. Her ears burned with embarrassment for her stumble, though what alarmed her more was the distasteful comments that she could hear whispered nearest to her, "How can they just waltz right back in? Don't they know any shame?"
Keeping her gaze fixed on the ground as the youth picked herself back up, wincing as she put weight on the offended paw, fear striking through her at the next half-heard whisper, "Disgusting kin-killers. They killed their father. Lothen's blood is on their paws." Stopping in her tracks as she whipped her head to face the citizens who had said those words. Some part of her was satisfied to see the way that they shrank back, how quickly they moved to hide themselves among the crowds. Inhaling shakily as she glared after their path of retreat, looking back at her siblings, looking for the eldest among them. She couldn't always ask him to take care of the scary things. Looking back at the crowd, pulling herself as tall as she could be before continuing the walk back towards The Horde's Estate just north of the city. She did her best to ignore the words that wreathed the young group, just as she did her best to ignore the staring and cursing of the folk that they passed. What was this all about? From what she could garner, the citizens believed the Rosencrantz children to have done something to their father, and that something seemed to be murder.
By the time their group had reached the gates to the Estate, a slight rain had begun to fall. The gates were open, a grace young Yvonne was grateful for. Under the arches of the strong wall she brought her siblings to make sure they were all still together, shivering from the cool rain dampening her fur. Looking through the gate's mouth, she gazed upon the Estate in it's tall and towering state, moss and stones darkened by the touch of water. Swallowing back the fear in her throat, turning back to the mob of citizens that had followed the youngsters in their return home, the heat and suspicion in their eyes terrifying enough to turn her stomach. What was going on? Why was this all happening? Voice wavering as she spoke, "I don't know why you all believe that our father is dead, but it can't be true. Or that we were responsible for ... for killing him. We haven't even been home in six weeks!"
Little were they to know that the former Lord of The Horde had been found deceased in his chambers, and there had been signs of a struggle. It was no secret that the former Lord, Lothen Rosencrantz, had been losing his sanity and rationality when it came to his family and descendants. Following the passing of Vayda Rosencrantz, his beloved first wife, when his youngest children had entered their world, Lothen had truly deteriorated and the council of elders within the vampiric family had begun to push and change his actions, whispering suggestions to him that he had no way to refute. To a madman, those suggestions had been guidance from his ancestors, proof that he was right in his violent ways. Under his rule, The Horde had been a lot more ruthless and aggressive than the group of mercenaries had truly been in a long time, making new enemies left and right plus earning themselves the titles of dishonorable knights. The Horde had now entered a new era with the death of their bloodthirsty leader, murdered in his own chambers.
The reason that the Rosencrantz children had left six weeks before in the cover of a bloody night, had been because of their father's actions and his movements against his own children. On that night it had been announced that all of the Rosencrantz children were to be moved to other branch families, so that Lothen himself would not have to deal with 'usurpers' in his own home. This included the intent of marrying his children off to other noble families or any who would take them, just so that he could be at ease without the threat of having his title and power taken from him. On that fateful night, Regulus Rosencrantz, the eldest child of the family, had been stripped of the family name and banished, with Yvonne herself being second in line at the time. Automatically after Regulus' banishment, she was the next direct threat to the crazed Lord. There was a lot of discontent among those who had been there to witness the bloodbath that broke out, the young vampires escaping from home with the fur on their backs until they had agreed it was time to return home and see what they could do to soothe the people. It had been Yvonne's choice to return home after they'd all left, a sense of duty that she wished she didn't have.
Looking at the angry faces, startling at the arrival of another, one of the family elders. "Yvonne," came the disappointed voice, "Don't lie, it's not becoming of a young lady. Your father, Lothen has died of suspicious circumstances, while you and your siblings were ... away. Only the ancestors know what you all were doing in these past six weeks. Is there anyone who can speak for you, to say that you haven't been conspiring to usurp your father's title? That you haven't been gathering forces under your name?" Head whipping around at the accusatory words, ears laid flat for a moment as she stared at the elder, breath shaking in her chest. "No. I'm not lying. My siblings and I have nothing to do with our ... our father's death, elder. I-I ..." she trailed off, hating that this was something that was happening, hating that she was still scared of the elders and their opinions, of their power over her family. Digging her claws into the pebbles of the road, taking a deep breath before standing upright and fixing a heated glare on the elder's face, "No. I do not lie, elder. We had nothing to do with the murder of our father, despite the accusations you hurl at us. I think that you are the one who is lying. We have been away, travelling for six weeks as we considered what to do for this family and this group. We have seen the devastation in our territories, in the territories of those who pay us tithes for our protection. We have failed them, elder, under our father's rule. If he's dead then so be it, good riddance. He was a senile old fool anyways." she didn't know where the strength to stand up had come from, or why it had come to her in this moment.
Casting her glance back at her siblings, taking in each of their faces and expressions before exhaling. Turning back to the other elders that were coming forward from the other side of the gate, from the Estate. There was no older figure, no older person to rely on here, they were on their own. Taking a breath as her legs shook, raising her voice until it was nearly a shout, "Lothen Rosencrantz is dead, and it is not our fault. Frankly, we should be thanking whoever took his life, he has been running this group and this family into the ground. We have returned home, and we will not be leaving. In fact, it will be you who are leaving this land, elders. We've witnessed the evils you convinced our father to commit, we will not be threatened into silence. Our people have seen the way he was, the way he ruled, and the blood he wrought. He would have killed his own family if he so pleased! Lives are not meant to be thrown away because of a fool who feared his power being stripped from him! Is there anyone who would say otherwise!?"
RE: ACHILLES COME DOWN ꕥ confrontation?? - SAKURA R. LINGRÉ - 07-05-2024
Sakura's golden eyes observed from further back in the crowd, expression blank as she stared at each child. She noticed Helgan look at her with those bright, bewildered eyes and Sakura dared to look away. Her ears angled to the elder, and then to Yvonne. Golden claws scraped against the earth as she walked around the crowd to look upon each face, the angry and scared, the frustrated, the betrayed.
Finally, against some better wishes in her head, Sakura shoved her way toward the elder and the Rosencrantz children. Again, her gaze met Helgan's own, then quickly was torn from her. "I would like to speak on behalf of these children, good elder."
Her voice was as rich as deep chocolate, a charming tone, but a dangerous one, "Their father, old and decrepit, had stood with the title for too long. His downfall was caused by his own foolishness - it is a mercy he is gone."
RE: ACHILLES COME DOWN ꕥ confrontation?? - HUGO - 07-25-2024
Hugo gazed over his sister's shoulder, too-blue eyes obscured by the black veil he typically wore over them, though the glow of the bioluminescent irises was visible across the silver-and-white fur of his face nonetheless. He'd pose an intimidating figure one day, but for now, he was but a scared child.
Or, more likely, he was doing a grand job of pretending to be. Until he inevitably opened his mouth, anyway.
Hugo's ears pinned back against his head as Sakura stepped forward, and for a moment he feared—genuinely feared—that she'd speak against them. But whatever Gods existed were in the Rosencratz children's favour, it seemed. He breathed an audible sigh of relief, ruffling some of Yvonne's hair with the small gust. "Yeah, what she said," he spoke up, whether for better or worse yet to be seen albeit, "the old bastard was gonna kick the bucket soon anyways. Dunno who did it, but if y'ask me, they put 'im out of 'is misery."
Of course, by 'him' he actually meant 'me', but whatever. Now was not the time to trauma dump.